


As told by Wataru

by 5catteredrosepetals



Category: Brothers Conflict
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, cute shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2017-12-31 13:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5catteredrosepetals/pseuds/5catteredrosepetals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>REUPLOADED FROM TUMBLR: See life in the Asahina Household through the innocent eyes of one Wataru Asahina, and how much his siblings love him to pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sick Days

**Author's Note:**

> Brother's Conflict does not belong to me. This is a work of fiction written for fun

Wataru hated being sick. He always felt like he was on fire, no matter how light his clothes were. He couldn't speak properly without feeling like he was going to cough up one of his lungs. He couldn't stand up straight, let alone sit up without feeling dizzy, and he always felt like he couldn't breathe. Most kids his age should be outside playing with their friends and rolling around in the mud. Instead, he was trapped here and confined to bed rest.

"Maa-chan, I want to go out and play!"

"I'm know Wataru-chan, but you can't do that. You need to stay in bed and rest."

Wataru pouted only to be racked with with a fit of hoarse coughing. Masaomi moved closer to him and began to rub soothing circles around his his back. A few days ago at school, everyone in the Asahina household was in for a really nasty surprise when the principal of his school called them. While out playing soccer with his classmates during gym, Wataru suddenly fainted on the field with a really high fever. Their mom left in the middle of a really important meeting with potential clients to rush him home ASAP. Nearly most of the Asahina brothers who were currently working left in the middle of work to rush home and make sure their baby brother was okay.

Masaomi, who had just finished his shift at a nearby hospital, arrived home to find out what was wrong with him. Never had everyone been glad they had a doctor in the family, even if he was just a pediatrician. After much protesting from the poor boy, he had diagnosed that Wataru caught a really bad case of Bronchitis. This meant staying at home for a while, and no going outside. Since their mom couldn't look after him because of her job, everyone took turns looking after him. Today just happened to be the day it was Masaomi's turn to look after him.

He laid back in bed with Masaomi helping him down. He rung out a moist towel sitting in a bowl next to his bed and laid the cool cloth on his forehead. The older man couldn't help but realize how delicate and helpless their baby brother looked right now. His cheeks were flushed red with a fever, and a thin coat of sweat matted his hair to his face. Ever since he was small, he'd always be helping his mom out with looking after his brothers whenever they got sick. Of course, no one in their family had gotten this sick before.

"How about after you get better, I'll take you out to play soccer?"

Wataru looked at him with glazed eyes.

"Do you promise?"

"Of course!" he replied as he took his own pinky and looped it around the smaller boy's pinky.

"And you can have all the ice cream you want!"

Wataru smiled as he clung to his eldest brother's pinky before drifting off to sleep. Masaomi stayed by his side, watching his tiny chest move up and down in a even pattern. He eventually unlooped his pinky from him, pulled the stuffed bunny out from his lab coat and placed it beside him. He got up from the chair beside the bed and started heading towards the door.

"Get better soon little brother..." he thought as he closed the door.


	2. Cupcakes

It was a typical Sunday afternoon in the Asahina complex. The afternoon sun shone brightly through the windows of the 5 story building as two brothers were currently at work with something. The sounds of eggs being cracked filled the small kitchen of the Asahina household. Next came the sound of vanilla extract and sugar being beaten in.

"Next we mix the dry ingredients together. You got that?"

Wataru, who had been helping his big brother Ukyo mix the eggs together nodded. Today was one of those rare days that Ukyo ever got a day off from work. What did you expect from someone who was a lawyer? If he wasn't sorting out paper work or settling disputes between clients, then he would be cooking dinner for 12 of his brothers or doing housework. He felt bad about not being able to spend as much time with his brothers as much as he could, but that was just the nature of the world. It wasn't going to just sit down and take a break! as long as there were legal disputes out there, then he would be have to make sure that no one was unfairly wronged and that everyone got what they needed. On nice days like these however, made sure to spend as much time with his brothers as possible. How often did he get to make cupcakes?

The blond watched his baby brother with interest as he leaned over to messily scoop a cup of flour out of the bag. Clumps of it spilled onto the table as he levelled off the right amount. He was going to have to clean that up later, but for now, he was just fine with watching him mix things together. After mixing everything together, Wataru had tried to lick some of the batter, but Ukyo stopped him before he did that. There was no way that he was going to let his brother get salmonella poisoning from eating cupcakes, not as long as he was going to be there. Though he did promise that he could lick of the icing later.

The smell of vanilla and sugar wafted through the first floor from the oven as they began to work on the buttercream icing that was to go on top of the cupcakes. It makes them almost want to open the oven door and devour everything in sight. The kitchen was once again filled with the sound of butter being whipped by a handmixer and pufts of powery white smoke rising into the air. They were lucky that they were both wearing aprons as splotches of sugar got everywhere. Just as they finished putting the finishing touches on the cupcakes, the smell of baked goods attracts the attention of the other Asahina men as they slowly file into the first floor.

The entire floor was filled with munching and praise. Even Subaru and Fuuto, who were watching what they were eating, decided to indulge in these sugary treats.

"Wow! these are good!"

"Amazing! just what I'd expect from our youngest brother!"

"I guess I'll have one too..."

The praises keep coming one after another. Wataru couldn't help but beam happily as each of his brothers heaped compliments after compliments to him.

"Kyo-nii?" Wataru piped up after finishing his cupcake

"Yes Wataru-chan?" the elder replied as he wiped some frosting off his cheek with his thumb.

"That was fun! we should do this more often!" 

The blonde lawyer couldn't help but laugh as he started cleaning up the kitchen. Yeah, that was fun he admitted. He was always used to cooking for his 12 brothers all his life but, he never really thought nothing of it other than just being a responsible big brother. Wataru managed to teach him that baking with his family really was more fun than he thought it was. He made a mental note to bake more with his baby brother.


	3. Children's Day

**Author's Notes:**  This chapter is a lot longer than the other chapters because of how much I wanted to say. I had to do some research into this holiday since we don't really celebrate this holiday in Canada. By the way, Chimaki is sweet rice paste wrapped in bamboo leaves.

**Kaname's Chapter**

**Children's Day**

Today was a special occasion. Why you may ask? Because it was Children’s Day here in Japan. All the families had taken their kids out to the local park for a picnic and other fun activities. The sun was out and there was a nice breeze out today, nice enough to fly kites in, but not cold enough that it was unbearable. The sky was dotted today with carp shaped kites of various shapes, sizes and colours.

"Kana-nii! let’s go fly some kites!" cried Wataru happily

"Alright alright Wakkun" laughed the monk and he ruffled his little brother’s hair

"Finish your chimaki first."

This holiday meant a lot especially to the Asahina Household. Raising 13 rambunctious boys wasn’t easy task. Especially if you were a single mom. Every Children’s day, the Asahina household made it a point to bring everyone outside to celebrate. Although their mother was often busy with coming up new designs every season, it was days like these that showed that she loved each and every one of them dearly. Children’s day was a day where you celebrated their happiness and prayed they grow up healthy and strong.

Wataru picked himself off the picnic blanket and dusted off his clothes of any remaining food particles and dirt. He turned around to grab his pink carp-shaped kite from their bag. It’s a kite that’s been handed down through their family for the past 20 years, starting from Masaomi all the way down to Wataru. Though it was old, so what? It still meant a lot to them. It had years and years worth of memories to them.

"Wakkun, hang on a moment. You’ve got some rice stuck to your face"

Kaname slid a long slender thumb over the smaller boy’s cheek and brushed some of the sticky rice off of his face. Any rice that stuck to his finger, the monk licked off. He then turned to his mom, who was busy eating her own chimaki.

"Stay together with your big brother Wataru. And make sure to come back soon aright?"

The two brothers waved to their mom before running off into the field to find a good spot to fly their kite. There were a lot of families around flying their kites, so it was hard to find a decent spot. Especially one that wasn't so close to a tree where their kite could get stuck. After half an hour of searching, they found the perfect location to fly their kite. Kaname of course helped Wataru get his kite into the sky. After it was up at a reasonable height, they let the wind do its magic and lift it higher and higher into the sky. Soon it joined the other colourful carp in sky, making it seem more like a cloud filled ocean than a sky.

The kite stayed up in the sky for a good couple of hours before a particularly strong gust of wind began to violently jerk the other kites hard enough to snap their strings. Kaname and Wataru watched in horror as their kite flew through the sky and landed in a nearby tree. The family kite, which lasted for 20 years through many generations of flying, was now trapped in a tree.

"Ahh shoot, Looks like we’re going to have to-"

Kaname’s face instantly paled as Wataru began scaling the massive tree. Kaname practically begged his little brother to get down from the tree. Wataru ignored all protests from the blond monk as he continued to scale higher and higher. He felt responsible for getting the kite stuck there in the first place, so it was his responsibility to get it down. Higher and higher he went, Kaname’s voice growing more and more faint as he scaled the tree. There the kite was, tangled in a mess of branches and string. He could easily untangle this with no problem. What he didn't factor in was the fact that this tree couldn't support the weight of a child for very long.

Just as he finally got his kite untangled, the branch beneath him suddenly snapped with a sickening crunch. Wataru didn't even have time to react as he started falling out of the tree, kite still grasped in his tiny little hands. He was scared. He was going to hurt himself, and there was nothing he could do about it. Everything moved in slow motion for him. He braced himself for impact, for the sensation of his body breaking, or the inevitable bruises and scars he was going to get. Only instead of that, he was caught by two very strong arms.

"What were you thinking?" snapped his older brother angrily as he roughly placed Wataru back on the ground.

"Do you know how dangerous that was? What would have happened if I wasn't there to catch you? What then?"

Wataru was scared. His brother was usually so laid back and cheerful. It was scary hearing him speaking to him with such a harsh tone. His voice sounded so foreign to him. Just who is this person who replaced his brother?

"Why didn't you come down when I kept asking you to do so? I was practically begging you not to go up there!”

The blond monk’s voice started cracking, startling the pink haired youth. Big fat tears started rolling down his face as his expression started contorting from anger to frustration, sadness, and relief.

"What am I supposed to do if anything happened to you? How could I face mom and the rest of our brothers? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you! I only have  **ONE**  baby brother!"

Wataru could feel tears prickling at the corners of his eyes and guilt stabbing him in the chest as he watched his big brother breaking down in sobs. Kaname had been so scared and worried about him. And no he had made him cry. And all for a kite too. Dropping the now slightly mangled and ripped kite on the ground, he ran to his big brother as waves of tears started streaming down his face.

"I'm so sorry Kana-nii!" he choked out as he buried his face into his shoulder.

"This kite’s been our family for so long. I didn't just want to leave it up there!"

Kaname rubbed the child’s upper back in circles as he continued to sob into his shoulder, not caring that he was getting his shirt wet.

"I just wanted to be a grown up and get it down myself so that we wouldn't have to get another kite! I just wanted to help."

Kaname reached into his pocket and pulled out tissues for himself and Wataru to wipe their tears away on. He had stopped crying a moment ago, but his nose was still stuffed up and sniffly. Wataru’s face was now red hot and splotchy with tears. He slightly hiccuped as he blew his nose into the tissue.

"We can always get another kite, but we can’t buy another little brother. Please don’t ever do anything dangerous like that again. You’re my one and only baby brother."

Picking up the forgotten kite on the ground, they both headed back to where their family was, Holding each other’s hand. The next year, they had bought a brand new kite to replace the one that got ripped, but that wasn’t the only new thing that the Asahinas got. That Children’s day, Kaname and Wataru felt closer than before.

 **More Author's Notes:** I realize that YES, Kaname was a little harsh with Wataru but think about this way: if you saw your baby brother doing something dangerous like that, wouldn't you be that angry and upset too?


	4. Bed time stories and Kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story that Hikaru is telling Wataru is an old story I used to read as a kid called the Wild Swans. I thought I would share this story with everyone here.

"Alright Waachan, are you all ready?" Hikaru asked as he tied his long ginger hair into a loose ponytail and scrubbed the last of his make-up off of his face in the bathroom.

Wataru nodded as he wiped the last of the toothpaste off from around his mouth with his face cloth. The two brothers made their way out of the 5th floor bathroom and started their rounds looking for their other brothers.

Before going to bed, Wataru had a ritual he had fulfill. After he was done getting dressed for bed and brushing his teeth, he had to give goodnight kisses to everyone in his family. At first, it just started out his mom, like with all families. But then he noticed that his brothers would look left out. He loved his brothers dearly so, in order not to have them feel left out, he started giving THEM goodnight kisses as well. He didn't have to do it, but since Wataru was such a sweet kid, he made sure no one felt left out. His brother's reactions ranged from amused to embarrassed to returning said kisses with a hug and a kiss on the forehead. Or in Fuuto's case, a playful poke on the cheek.

His eldest brothers would take turns reading to the lad every night to help him sleep through the night. Someone had to take the burden off of their tired mom. Tonight was Hikaru's turn to do so. The budding crossdressing novelist always had a flair for storytelling. Not that his other brother's stories were bad. It's just when he told stories, Wataru would notice how his eyes sparkled when it got exciting. Sometimes he'd even forget that he was supposed to be going to bed afterwards because of how passionate he was.

Even though he was just starting out as a novelist, and usually worked himself into the early morning, Hikaru would always make sure that he could at least kiss his llittle brother goodnight before tucking in for an all nighter. Wataru was at that age where he insisted on dressing himself, even if he didn't put the buttons in the right place. Hikaru sat the younger boy down on his bed before he went to clear his throat and begin immersing the younger boy in a world of magic and wonder.

Tonight's story was one he hasn't heard of. In fact, it wasn't even a story that was very widely told like CInderella or Jack and the Beanstalk. It was a story about a princess whose eleven brothers were turned swans by their wicked stepmother.

_"After she turned them all into swans, she sent the king's only daughter to live with a family of peasants until she turned 15. After she turned 15, her stepmom invited her back to the castle, only to have a plan to turn her stepdaughter into an ugly hag and make her recognizable to her father by casting a spell on her bathwater. But thanks to her kind and sweet heart, she broke the spell and foiled her plan. Furious, the stepmom resorted to rubbing dirt and mud all over her face and tying knots in her hair."_

Hikaru had to stop in the middle of the story when he saw the look on his face. Wataru nearly cried when the king refused to acknowledge his daughter, even if she was covered in dirt and had knots in her hair His eyes had grown to the size of saucers, and he could see the tell-tale signs of tears beginning to form in his eyes. Hikaru had to calm his baby brother down and tell him that the story got better so that he wouldn't burst into tears on the spot.

_"After being heart broken by this recent turn of events, an elderly woman informed her that there had been 11 swans flying around the area with golden crowns on their heads. To her surprise, they turned out to be her missing brothers! by day they were swans, but by sunset, they turned back into humans. The princess vowed to find a way to break the spell, anything to help them. One night, she was visited by a fairy who told her that to save them, she would have to knit sweaters made from the flax of stinging nettles without speaking or laughing until they were done. Though her hands had become calloused and covered in scars and blisters, she continued press on, being unable to communicate her needs with her brothers._

_She was sad that she couldn't tell her brothers what she was doing, but she did what she needed to do because she loved her brothers so much. One day, she was picked up by the king of another kingdom, who had fallen for her at first sight. After getting married, the archbishop accused her of being a witch. The king refused to believe that his wife was a witch, but one night he saw her sneaking out to the graveyard to collect nettles. He couldn't believe it! how could this be happening?_

_He begged her to speak and clear up the misunderstanding, but all she could do was to smile sadly. The next morning, she was sent to be burnt at the stake. Even in the face of death, she continued to knit her sweaters. Sure the crowd kept calling her a witch, but she didn't care. Nothing was going to stop her. Suddenly the skies darkened as 11 familiar swans came to rescue her. Though one sweater hadn't been finished, she threw the sweaters onto the swans and watched as her brothers turn back into people, the spell finally broken._

_Well, almost broken. The eldest brother had gotten the sweater that was incomplete and was left with only a wing instead of an arm. Though she felt bad about it, he assured her that he will forever carry it around proudly as a symbol of her selflessness. And they all lived happily ever after."_

 

Hikaru looked at his little brother, who had been listening with anticipation and excitement. 

"Hikaru-nii?" asked the smaller boy as he pulled his blanket up to his armpits.

"Hmm?"

"Would you get mad at me for giving you an incomplete nettle sweater?"

"What? Of course not!" the older man replied

"Even if I was left with a wing instead of an arm for the rest of my life, I'll wear it proudly like the older brother in the story. I'll never blame you for it, though it may inconvenience me, it'll be proof of my eternal love for you."

Hikaru pushed the smaller boy's bangs back to give him a kiss on his temple. Wataru leaned in to give Hikaru hugs before settling back down to let him tuck him in.

"Goodnight little brother."

"Good night Hikaru-nii. I love you."


	5. Anime and Alter Egos

**Tsubaki and Asuza's Chapter**

**Anime and alter egos**

The word "voice actors" had never thought to cross the Asahina Household until now. Not just once, but twice. Miwa had been skeptical when both of her sons told her that they wanted to be voice actors. Her sons eldest sons were already respectively; a doctor, a lawyer, a monk, a novelist, and a salesman. Tsubaki had always been a fan of anime for as long as he knew of it's existence. How he managed to rope his more reserved and responsible twin brother into this, no one had any idea. The next thing they knew, they both applied to voice actor school following their final year of high school.

The twins had both studied their asses off to get into this school thanks to Ukyo and Masaomi, despite them being busy with their own jobs. Being a voice actor was hard, and that was a well known truth. People who say that it's an easy job were crazy. They worked just as hard as normal actors and actresses! And both Tsubaki and Asuza were determined to prove just how hard they worked to their families. They worked themselves to the bone preparing for their auditions. Sometimes they made themselves ill from staying up all night, but that was what being an actor was all about. Sometimes you needed to get hurt in order to prove something.

After many failed auditions, They both caught a break when it was announced that they were both going to get a role in an new upcoming anime. Everyone was excited. They finally got a role! especially as main characters. However, the one who was the most excited about this was their youngest brother Wataru. He happy for his big brothers when they announced that they got leading roles. He was going to be able to hear his brother's voices on tv from now on.

They gathered everyone in front of the tv to watch the first episode's broad cast, with their baby brother sitting on their lap. They landed parts in a really silly shojou anime about an boy bands. The main character was a girl with weird eyes that happened to wind up in an elite school made for creating future idols and song writers. Wataru's eyes lit up with excitement when he heard their voices for the first time on television.

Their characters in the show were so much different from what they were really like in real life, it was almost jarring. Tsubaki's character was this quiet and stoic bookworm that never really spoke much. He came from a traditional Japanese family, where he was expected to always have a regal and refined air about him. Because of that, he always trouble expressing how he felt, except through his music.

Asuza's character however, was a cheerful childish dork from a faraway country. His father was the king of that country, but he himself was a bastard child because the king had fallen in love with a commoner. And because of that, his relatives refused to acknowledge in any way unless he managed to prove himself to them. Though he was usually sunshine and smiles, Asuza was really good at bringing out his inner turmoil and sadness.

Their characters were in a love triangle with the heroine, which meant a lot of drama for everyone else. When these two characters were together in a scene, they would usually bicker and argue, sometimes reminding everyone of Tsubaki and Asuza's arguments in real life sometimes. It was almost scary how almost alike these characters were to them. Everyone laughed with them, and cried too when something sad happened. Just when it was getting intense, the episode cuts off on a cliff hanger, frustrating the younger Asahina brothers. Tsubaki and Asuza couldn't help but be amused by their younger brother's antics. On the other hand, once the ending song started playing, they both encouraged their younger siblings to join in and sing with them.

With the exception of Fuuto, no everyone was really a good singer. Some of them were decent, but others were just really bad. But they didn't care. They were just a bunch of brothers singing along to an annoyingly catchy song. By the end of everything, Wataru was bouncing around in twin's laps and exclaiming about how cool his big brothers were and how he couldn't wait to see more of this show, despite it's cheesy premise. Tsubaki and Asuza couldn't help but beam in pride. Even though in the future where they'll probably have thousands of fans, they could always feel assured that Wataru would always be their biggest fan.


	6. two brothers play okami

"Oh not again!"

"Oh you were so close!"

Wataru puffed his cheeks up in frustration as he watched his character on the tv screen, a large white wolf covered in red markings, fall into a pool of murky poison. His older brother Natsume had brought an old game system with him as well as a new game that he was probably too young to remember. It was something called Okami. You played as a goddess that had been reincarnated into a wolf and went around purifying the land of Nippon. They didn't make games like this anymore in this day and age. In this modern age, the Playstation 2 would be considered obsolete and useless. How he managed to dig up a treasure like this, no one was sure.

Perhaps he had this system long before Wataru knew of its existence, or maybe he found it recently. Whatever it may be, they're now cooped up in Wataru's room together playing it. They'd just gotten past the first third of the game and were now starting the second third of the story. After defeating the dreaded Orochi ( with some assitance from Natsume of course), Amaterasu, the name of the wolf in this game, now set off to the east to investigate some darkness that was covering the eastern part of Japan. There was a platform that they were supposed to jump up on but no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't get up on there. Wataru had been spending the last 15 minutes figuring out how to get the timing just right, but nothing was working. Well, that was until Natsume offered to help him with it.

"Here, let me try."

Wataru watched in amazement how he timed his jump with precision and managed to jump onto the platform. How did he do that? Natsume turned to assure him that all it took was practice to do those double jumps in the game. Next, they had to draw the image of the moon in the ocean to lower the water level. This would make accessing the ghost ship more easy. The Ghost ship was admittingly the creepiest level the brothers had ever been in. The music sent chills down their spines and the fact that there were ghosts and demons everywhere did nothing to take the edge off of the creepiness.

Sometimes Wataru wasn't fast enough to get Rao to summon her paper talismons to get rid of the ghosts, and they would wind up being terrifed by the ghosts. There was also another part of the ship they went into where the Spider Queen boss from the first part of the game made a reapperance as a ghost. Only, it was her creepy face that kept zooming into the screen, and Wataru couldn't do a thing to excorise it. This lead to the younger boy to screaming and jumping into his brother's lap when her face took up the entire screen. When she was finally gone from the screen, Natsume managed to calm the other boy down and get him off of his lap.

For the rest of the night, Wataru stayed extra close to Natsume, grabbing on to him anytime he got spooked by something. It had gotten late by the time that they finished exploring the rest of the ghost ship. Natsume had to go to work the next day, so he decided to leave the Asahina complex earlier than expected to get back to his apartment. Wataru didn't want him to go. He rarely got to see him ever since he moved out of the complex. But he knew he couldn't be selfish about this.

"Next time I come over, let's get even further with this game!"

"Yeah! let's play again sometime!"


	7. Hair Silliness

"This one looks silly on you"

"Eh?! no way!"

"Why don’t you try this hair clip here instead?"

It had started off as a lazy afternoon in the Asahina complex. Louis had the day off from styling people’s hair, so he was left with nothing to do to occupy his time. The person who would usually provide him with the raw materials he needed, Fuuto, was away on tour. He wouldn’t be coming back for another month or so. Everyone else was either at work, at practice or drowning in school work. The only other person around the household was Wataru, his baby brother. Normally, he would be spending the afternoon taking long lazy naps, but he didn't feel tired at all. He had an unusual amount energy today, which was really weird for him since he’s usually very sleepy.

Wataru was the one who came up to him and wanted play with him. Naturally, the sleepy hairdresser couldn't say no to a kid like him. For some odd reason, instead of dragging him to his room, Wataru chose to go to Louis’s room instead. Wouldn't it have been better if he dragged him into **HIS** room instead?

"What are you doing" Louis asked as he watched the younger boy bouncing around his room looking for something.

Wataru stopped at where his hair accessories where stored and took out a bunch of ribbons, hair ties and clips. What was that boy planning on doing? Wataru walked over to his brother and began to undo his ponytail for him. He then began to messily braid that section. Taking out a red and white polka dotted ribbon, he tied the ribbon off on the end of that braid. As a professional hair dresser, he was probably crying on the inside about how badly done this braid was done. But since this was his little brother, he couldn't say anything that could hurt his feelings.

Instead, he took a hair tie that had strawberries on it and began to put a French braid into the pink haired boy’s hair. After he finished, he tied it off with the strawberry hair tie.

"Now we match." Louis said with a smile as he got a mirror out.

Wataru now couldn't help but feel self conscious as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Louis’s braids were perfect and precise. His were just obscenely messy and sloppy. Louis saw the self consciousness in his face and immediately realized that he had made his little brother sad. So he tried to cheer him up instead.

"It’s not bad for your first try, but I can show you how to make it better. Would you like me to show you how?"

Wataru nodded as he plopped down beside Louis. He watched with amazement as Louis’s long and slender fingers weaved and (neatly) bundled sections of hair together with ease. Louis was surprisingly very patient and calm, even when Wataru was probably tangling and putting all sorts of knots into his hair. This second braid was still a little messy, but a lot better than the first one. Before long, both brothers were now experimenting with each other’s hair. Louis’s soft platinum hair was now covered in assorted hair clips, ribbons and braids that would make anyone gawk at him if he went out in public like that. Wataru on the other hand had his hair sticking out in all different directions, being held in place by an assortment of hair ties and scrunchies.

They both couldn't help but laugh at how silly each other looked. And let’s face it, they did look ridiculous. There was no denying that when Masaomi came to get them both for dinner. He took one look at them and promptly started laughing uncontrollably. So they both double teamed him and started putting all sorts of things in his hair as well. Ukyo and the rest of the family had nothing to say to them when they came back some time later, their eldest brother now sporting bunny hair clips in his hair. Some things were better left unanswered after all.


	8. Balls and Bloody noses

Wataru had never been very good at playing basketball. If anything, Soccer had always been his thing. He would usually leave the basketball playing to Subaru. He had been having trouble in school lately. With what? Basketball. He could excel in any other sport he could play in but, It had always been basketball that he’s been having trouble doing. His older brothers all decided that the best way to at least help him along with basketball in gym class was to have Subaru teach him to at least play better. Yes Subaru was busy with classes as well as his upcoming University championships, but he (begrudgingly) accepted tutoring Wataru in Basketball. So now here they were playing basketball at the nearby recreation centre against each other.

"Okay, now take the ball and and bounce it like this."

Wataru watched as his older brother showed him how to cross pass the ball with ease. He nodded and tried to imitate him as best as he could. No one said that it was going to be easy. Sometimes he would get it right away, and other times, the ball would bounce away from him from a badly timed bounce. Once Subaru thought that Wataru had enough of that, he suggested that he tried playing against him. A ten year against a college student. Like that wasn’t going to end in tears.

Wataru was a lot shorter and smaller than his big brother, which meant that he was going to have some trouble keeping up with him. But thanks to playing soccer all the time when he wasn’t busy gaming, Wataru has learned how to weave in, out and around people. He might a kid, but at least he was fast. And he was going to use it to his advantage no matter what. He ran up to Subaru and managed to steal the ball from him just as he was going to shoot it into his basket. He traveled back to Subaru’s basket and jumped as high as he could to shoot the ball into the other side.

The ball rolled around on the rim for a while and wobbled slightly to one side. Waiting for it to fall was torturous. After what seemed like an eternity, it wobbled into the basket.

"I’m not going to lose to you!" the younger boy declared as he got a hold of the ball.

"Fine, I’m not losing to you to you too!"

Oh it was on alright. And none of them were intending on going easy on each other. Even if they were brothers, they weren’t going to hold anything back. And that included basketball too. So they began to play more aggressively than ever. Their scores fluctuated between the two, sometimes tying neck to neck, and other times one upping each other. Now it came down to this next shot. If Wataru got this next shot, then he would win. He started moving forward with the ball in hand, dribbling it a lot better than he did when he first started out. He manages to shoot another basket, only to lose his footing with the shiny wooden floor and tumble forward, landing on his knees first, and then on his face last.

Subaru ran over to him, ignoring the fact that Wataru had just scored against him. Wataru sat up with a whimper and a sniffle, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. The tip of his nose had some scratches on it, and there was blood gushing out of one of his nostrils. One of his knees was now missing some skin off of the surface and was bleeding as well, but not as badly as his nose. Despite his injuries, Wataru still bit back his tears, trying to look tough and manly in front of his big brother.

"I’m okay." he insisted when he shakily tried to stand back up.

"I’m okay I’m okay I’m okay…"

He was trying his hardest to fight the tears back as he limped over to where the ball was. His knee ached with every step he took, and he was beginning to drip blood on the floor. Subaru stopped him before he took another step. He then guided the younger boy back to the bench on the other side of the gym and got out a first aid kit from his gym bag. The first thing to take care of was his nose, which he cleaned up pretty well despite not being a doctor like Masaomi. Next he handed some tissues to Wataru for him to stem the bleeding with. Next he disinfected his knee (which earned him a lot of tears and hissing from the younger boy) and slapped a large hello kitty bandaid over the scrape.

After 5 minutes, the bleeding finally stopped, but Wataru wasn’t allowed to play for 2 hours for fear that he might make his nose bleed again. He was lucky he didn’t break his nose when he fell on his face. After cleaning the blood off the floor, Subaru decided that they had enough basketball for one day and decided to go home. Wataru was disappointed, but cheered up when Subaru treated him to ice cream.

"You’re really starting to improve kiddo." he said as he sucked on his Popsicle.

"Really? I am?"

"Of course. You just need to practice more at school. If there’s anything you’re stuck with, you can come ask me about it."

Several sessions later, Wataru was now playing circles around his classmates, and he had his big brother to thank for that.


End file.
